The Thirteen Chairs

The Thirteen Chairs (12 + 1 - original title and Italian release title) is a 1969 comedy film based on The Twelve Chairs, a 1928 satirical novel by the Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov. It was directed by Nicolas Gessner and Luciano Lucignani, and starred Sharon Tate (her last film before her death), Vittorio Gassman, Orson Welles, Vittorio De Sica, and Tim Brooke-Taylor.

Plot

Mario Beretti (Vittorio Gassman) is a young Italian-American Barber. He runs a Barber Shop located near a construction site that boasts few customers. His life reaches a turning point when he is notified of the death of his aunt living in England, who named him her sole heir.

Mario rushes to England and learns that his inheritance consists of not much; only thirteen antique chairs have a certain value. He sells them in order to cover his transportation costs, but soon learns from his aunt's Laura last message that inside one of the chairs is a fortune in jewels. He tries to buy back the chairs, but is unsuccessful in doing so. With the help of lovely American antiques dealer Pat (Sharon Tate), working in the antiques shop in front of Aunt Laura's house, where he sold the chairs, the two then set out on a bizarre quest to track down the chairs that takes them from London to Paris and to Rome. Along the way, they meet a bunch of equally bizarre characters, including the driver of a furniture moving van named Albert (Terry-Thomas); a prostitute named Judy (Mylène Demongeot); Maurice (Orson Welles), the leader of a traveling theater company that stages a poor version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; the Italian entrepreneur Carlo Di Seta (Vittorio De Sica); and his vivacious daughter Stefanella (Ottavia Piccolo).

The bizarre chase ends in Rome, where the chair containing the money finds its way into a truck and is collected by nuns who auction it off to charity. With nothing much left to do as a result of the failure of his quest, Mario travels back to New York City by ship as Pat sees him off and waves goodbye to him.

The film ends with Mario returning to New York City and to his Barber Shop. His friends over at the other (and more lavish) shop join him, as do two construction workers and his last customer Randomhouse (Lionel Jeffries). It is there that Mario makes a strange discovery: shortly before his departure for Europe, he invented a way to make hair regrow miraculously. He then laughs ecstatically over his discovery.

Cast

• Sharon Tate as Pat
• Vittorio Gassman as Mario Beretti
• Orson Welles as Maurice Markau
• Vittorio De Sica as Carlo Di Seta - The Commendatore
• Tim Brooke-Taylor as Jackie
• Terry-Thomas as Albert
• Mylène Demongeot as Judy
• Ottavia Piccolo as Stefanella Di Seta
• Claude Berthy as Francois
• Catana Cayetano as Veronique
• Grégoire Aslan as Psychiatrist
• John Steiner as Stanley Duncan
• William Rushton as Lionel Bennett
• Lionel Jeffries as Randomhouse
• Marzio Margine as Pasqualino
• Alfred Thomas as Mbama
• Antonio Altoviti as Greenwood
• Michele Borelli as Rosy

Production and release

• Filmed from February–April 1969.^[1]
• Because the script for Tate's scenes called for several semi-nude scenes, the director arranged to film those scenes first. As filming (and her pregnancy) progressed, the director obscured Tate's stomach with large purses and scarves. This is most apparent in the scene following her ride in the furniture mover's van.
• This was Sharon Tate's last movie, before her murder on August 9, 1969 by Charles Manson's followers.
• In response to her recent murder, Tate received top billing for this film (this film was released posthumously). In addition, several of her other films (including Valley of the Dolls) were reissued to give her top billing on the theater marquees.

Home media

The film is extremely hard to find on VHS. It was released through rental only by Force Video in 1986 under the Thirteen Chairs name, and again a year later by Continental Video, under the original 12 + 1 name. On 12 March 2008 the film was released on DVD in Italy by 01 Distribution. This version is in Italian, lacks English subtitles, and doesn't include an English audio track.

References

External links

• 12 + 1 at the Internet Movie Database
• 12 + 1 at AllMovie
• 12 + 1 (The 13 Chairs) at Rotten Tomatoes